Witch of Endor According to the story related in Samuel

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Witch of Endor According to the story related in SamuelI of the Old Testament, the Witch of Endor was apythoness and necromancer who raised the spirit ofSamuel at the request of King Saul of Israel (see necromancy).Although she is called a “witch,” it is likely notan accurate description of her.The Bible relates that Saul was afraid of an impendingattack by a mighty army of Philistines, who had beenjoined by his rival, David. He gathered up the Israelitesand camped at Mount Gilboa. He sought advice fromprophets and divination by sacred lot and from the Lord,but he received no answer as to his fate or the action heshould take.Saul instructed his servants, “Seek me a woman thathath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and enquire of394 witch-finderher.” His servants directed him to the pythoness at Endor,whose name is never given.Saul disguised himself and went to the witch the samenight. At first, she was frightened that he had come toexpose her as a witch: “Behold, thou knowest what Saulhath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiarspirits, and the wizards, out of the land: wherefore thenlayest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die?”Saul assured the woman he meant her no harm andinstructed her to conjure Samuel from the dead. She performedher ritual and claimed to see gods rising out of theearth, followed by a spirit like an old man, wrapped in arobe. Saul, who could see nothing, believed the old spiritwas Samuel and prostrated himself on the ground.Samuel was not pleased to be disturbed from thegrave. Saul said he faced war and had been abandonedby God. But Samuel’s reply was not what Saul wanted tohear: that God was displeased with Saul for his disobedienceand had torn his kingdom from his hand and given itto David. “Moreover, the Lord will also deliver Israel withthee into the hand of the Philistines: and tomorrow shaltthou and the sons be with me: the Lord shall also deliverthe host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.”Upon hearing this condemnation, Saul fell into a faint.The spirit of Samuel vanished. The woman went to Sauland offered him food for strength, but he refused. His servantsand the witch helped him get up. She killed a fattedcalf she had and cooked it, and made some unleavenedbread. Before he left, Saul relented and ate the meal sheoffered him.The next day, the Philistines attacked the Israelites,who fled in terror and were slain. Saul’s sons Jonathan,Abinadab and Malchishua were slain, and Saul was badlywounded. Saul ordered an armor-bearer to kill him withhis sword, but the soldier refused. Saul took his swordand fell upon it.When the Philistines found his body, they cut off thehead, fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan and puthis armor in the temple of Astarte. His headless bodywas removed by the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead, whoburned the body and buried the bones. David succeededSaul as King of Israel.Among those who considered the conjuration of Samuelto be a hoax was Reginald Scot, the 16th-centuryEnglish writer who attempted to debunk beliefs aboutwitchcraft in his book, The Discoverie of Witchcraft. Scotdevoted several chapters to a discussion of the story, assertingthat the distraught Saul was taken for a fool by aclever woman whose familiar was a “counterfeit”:When Saule had told hir, that he would have Samuelbrought up to him, she departed from his presence intohir closet, where doubtles she had hir familiar; to wit,some lewd craftie preest, and made Saule stand at thedoor like a foole (as it were with his finger in a hole), tohear the cousening [deceitful] answers, but not see thecounsening [sic] handling thereof, and the couterfetting[sic] of the matter.The witch, Scot said, knew who Saul was despite hisdisguise. She played out her incantations, lied about seeinggods or angels ascending from the earth and aboutseeing the spirit of old Samuel. Scot discounts that such aspirit could have been Samuel, for it was clothed in a newmantle such as he was buried in and surely would havebeen rotted by the time he was conjured.Theologians such as Augustine and Tertullian, andthe French demonologist, Jean Bodin (a contemporaryof Scot’s), said a spirit was conjured, but it was the Devil,not Samuel. Scot disagreed, saying the Devil wouldhave been banished by the word “God” or “Jehovah,”spoken five times during the conjuration. Furthermore,Scot said, the Devil would not appear to rebuke andpunish someone for evil but to encourage them to domore evil.The witch, said Scot, was a ventriloquist, “that is,Speaking at it were from the bottome of her bellie, didcast herself into a transe [sic] and so abused Saule, an-Witch of Endor 395Witch of Endor conjuring Samuel for Saul (Joseph Glanvil,Saducismus Triumphatus , 1681 ed.)swering to Saule in Samuels name, in his counterfeit hollowvoice.”Further reading:de Givry, Emile Grillot. Witchcraft, Magic and Alchemy. 1931.Reprint, New York: Dover Publications, 1971.Hill, Douglas, and Pat Williams. The Supernatural. London:Aldus Books, 1965.